EA y a leet 
much longer than ours and he does not tell 
us how they were made. ARLINDO DE AS- 
SIS, who modelled his experiments on those of 
MOURIQUAND, obtained polyneuritis with 
the mandioc flour commonly used in Brazil, 
but did not make experiments with Amazo- 
nas flour. 
Amazonas flour must be subject to a 
process of preparation which deprives it of 
its nutritive value which seems to be less 
than that of white flour used in Brazil. How- 
ever it may be, my experimental animals, 
which were fed on nothing else, did not that 
show any symptoms of polyneuritis. 
We might therefore conclude that Ama- 
zonas flour is not a defficient food; when 
fresh and gcod, is even better than polished 
rice. As my experiments were not iong or 
complete, other experiments should be made 
the same direction. 
Another group of fowls (3) was fed 
on old white flour. Two succumbed with 
all tne symptoms of polyneuritis, the third 
resisted all the time the experiment lasted 
onfv manifesting loss of weight and want of 
appetite. We here give the details of the ob- 
servations made on one of the fowls. 
“Cock. No. 4 Weight: 1,880 gr. On the 
16th it got a ration of 120 gr. of white flour 
of the Surui kind, of very bad quality; it 
ate 75 grs. of the ration in 24 hours. 
During the first days it ate well, avera- 
ging 60 to 80 grs. of flour a day. From the 
24th. to the 30th., in spite of not showing 
any outward symptoms of disease, it lost 
weight and appetite. 
h continued to lose weight, being only 
1,800 grs. on the 26th and eating only 20 grs 
of its ration a day. On the 30th. it weighd 
only 1,660 grs. From the 30th. on, it would 
hardly eat, taking only about 3 or 4 grs. of 
flour a day and on some days would not 
even take any. On the 5th. it weighed only 
1,490 grs. it was sad its wings drooping 
while it lay down and, seemed apathetic. 
On the 6th. and 7th. it could hardly walk, 
showing the characteristic beriberi stepping. 
On the 8th. it weighed 1,290 grs. The wings and 
legs were paralysed. When strongly excited, 
it made incoordinated movement of the feet 
and legs. On the 9th. the paralysis was com- 
plete, the movements convulsive and tetani- 
form: the weight fell to 1185 grs. and the 
fowl died. 
A third group was fed on national po- 
lished rice, of the kind here called needle 
rice, of the best quality, sterilised at 1500. 
This group was composed of pigeons. 
Afer some days the classic symptoms of 
polynevritis declared themselves. 
Pigeon n. 8, shown in photograph n. 1, 
became paralysed after a few days. 
Pigeon, n. 9, (fig. n. 2) died after being 
fed on polished and sterilised rice for 20 days; 
all the clasic symptoms were present. 
Heating in an autoclave destroys the vi- 
tamines and increases the already existant de- 
ficiency. 
These observations only serve to corro- 
borate those already made and published. 
We still wanted to know whether the 
immunisation of cereals as done here, is 
harmful by destroying the vitamine.s 
For this purpose, a fourth group of pi- 
geons was fed exclusively on Indian corn 
purveyed as sterilised, by the Companhia Es- 
terelisadora de Cereaes. Their sterilisation is 
effected by means of sulphurate of carbon 
steam. The Indian corn keeps its natural ap- 
pearance and its germinative power. 
The feeding of these pigeons went on 
for 2 and 1/2 months; they all increased in 
weight, had good appetites in spite of the 
monotony of their food, and none showed 
any symptoms of polynevritis gallinarum. 
As pigeons resisted the diet of polished 
rice better than gallinaceous birds, I rosolved 
to make experiments with the latter, feeding 
them exclusively on polished rice, raw or 
heated in the autoclave at 1200, 
I herewith give the description of a 
cock as type observation. On the 29th. of Au- 
gust, | began the experiment. The weight of 
the bird was 1260 grs. and ils food was na- 
tional polished “needle” rice given in rations 
of 120 grs. I must here sya that national rice 
